25 A , 2014 IN THIS ISSUE - Home - Dania · 2014. 11. 18. · way to a life worth living. 3. Loving companionship is the antidote to loneliness. Elders deserve easy access to human

Dania Home Residents Foundation Charitable Business #81053 8553 RR0001

SPRING 2014 IN THIS ISSUE

President’s Message ................... 2 Eden Alternative ........ 3 Events ...................... 4 Executive Director .... 5 Ladies Auxiliary ........ 6 Meet the Staff ........... 7 Irish Dancers ............ 8 Egyptian Week .......... 8 Calendar of Events ... 8

The newsletter of Dania 4279 Norland Avenue

Burnaby, BC, V5G 3Z6

For enquiries, submissions or advertising, please call the Editor at 604-515-3331

REJSEGILDE Roof Raising—A Danish Tradition

25th April, 2014

T he roof raising ceremony for the new Dania building was held on 25th April, 2014 at 3 p.m. In Danish this ―topping out‖ ceremony is called a ―Rejsegilde‖, and a flag and wreath are raised to the rafters.

Torben Hansen, Vice President, Dania Home Society, welcomed a huge crowd with the following words: ―I am very pleased, on behalf of the Board, to welcome you to our Rejsegilde here at the new home for Dania.

Architect, Brian Dust smashes a bottle of Danish beer and expresses hope of a sturdy

building that will last for many many years!

Rejsegilde is one of the traditions that Dania's heri-tage brings with it. Once the walls are up and the rafters are in place, the building is considered to be established. We have arrived at this point and the building will continue to proceed, allowing us to move people in early next year. Our celebration to-day is geared towards those of you who have been here every day, enduring cold, rain, snow and even days as nice as today. Without your hard work and dedication, we would not be where we are today. Thank you very much. It is the Board’s sincere de-sire that the new Dania building will stand safely for many years and bring much joy and comfort to the residents. On behalf of Dania Board of Directors Thank you!‖

DANIA NEWS SPRING 2014

A Message from your Board

W e had a dream—replacing the old Dania Home with a

new building and the dream is now materializing. Several times over the last years, we have had to inform you of yet more delays before we could start building the new Dania Home that we have been planning. The delays are now behind us. If you have passed by the building site on Norland Ave-nue lately, you were no doubt impressed by the build-ing going up next to the old Dania Home. In August of 2013, a lot of heavy equipment was brought on to the site. Excavating started in mid September, and when the serious digging started, surprise! a lot of extremely large boulders were uncovered. Some were so large that they slowed down proceedings by a few days. It was decided to keep some of the boulders for future landscaping. Importantly, a ground breaking ceremony was held on the 4th of October, 2013. It was well attended and there were many guests, among them stakeholders from Burnaby including Mayor Derek Corrigan, MLAs Richard Lee and Raj Chouhan, and MP Kennedy Stew-art. Also in attendance was Mr. Keith McBain from Fra-ser Health and numerous others. Building of the new home is progressing pretty much according to schedule. A short period of frost delayed progress earlier this year but only by a few days. Van-Mar Construction site management is confident that time lost can be regained over the remaining construc-tion period. The new home will add approximately 35 much needed new beds to the inventory of care beds in Burnaby. Completion date for the project is expected to be early in 2015.

Margaret Douglas-Matthews and her staff continue to cope with faltering equipment and building in the old home. They deal with daily challenges. Hang in there, everyone, there is less than a year to go to moving day! We will miss Dan Olsen. Dan served for eight years as a director, part of that time as president of the board and chair of the building committee. Dan agreed to stay on as chair of the building committee which he did for more than a year after leaving the board. Dan re-signed from that committee earlier this year. Thank you, Dan, for your many years of superb contributions to the cause of improving conditions for seniors living on Dania's Campus of Care. You put in an enormous number of hours on many fronts. New director Thomas Barfoed resigned from the board to pursue new challenges in New York. All the best in New York, Thomas, and thank you for your time, how-ever brief. In his place Jack Larsen was invited to join the board. Jack brings extensive building experience to the table from his many years as construction superin-tendent. Welcome aboard Jack, the timing is excellent. A big thank you to those of you who have supported our fundraising efforts. Our first goal was funding for a bus to be shared between Normanna and Dania. We are close enough to that goal that we will soon be shopping for a bus. Summer is coming, enjoy, and stay healthy and happy.

Kjeld Christensen President

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Dania Board of Directors 2013-2014

PRESIDENT— Mr. Kjeld Christensen VICE PRESIDENT—Mr. Torben Hansen

TREASURER— Mr. Kim Christensen SECRETARY— Mrs. Margaret Chester

DANIA Mission & Values Our Mission at Dania’s Campus of Care is to provide quality housing and residential health care reflecting the values of trust, respect, caring, and diversity, respecting our Danish heritage.

Vision To be leaders in providing comprehensive care through innovation and outreach ensuring we are the first choice for clients in need of service and to expand and enhance our facilities in response to the changing needs of our community.

DANIA NEWS SPRING 2014 3


Eden Principles 1. The three plagues of loneliness, helplessness, and bore-

dom account for the bulk of suffering among our Elders. 2. An Elder-centered community commits to creating a human

habitat where life revolves around close and continuing contact with plants, animals, and children. It is these rela-tionships that provide the young and old alike with a path-way to a life worth living.

3. Loving companionship is the antidote to loneliness. Elders deserve easy access to human and animal companionship.

4. An Elder-centered community creates opportunity to give as well as receive care. This is the antidote to helplessness.

5. An Elder-centered community imbues daily life with variety and spontaneity by creating an environment in which unex-pected and unpredictable interactions and happenings can take place. This is the antidote to boredom.

About the Eden Alternative

Egyptian Week As seen in the photos, lots of fun was had by all. We will continue to look for new inspirations for our beloved Theme Weeks. We welcome input from residents, staff, family members and volunteers!! More on Page 8

6. Meaningless activity corrodes the human spirit. The opportunity to do things that we find meaningful is essential to human health.

7. Medical treatment should be the servant of genuine human caring, never its mas-ter.

8. An Elder-centered community honours its Elders by de-emphasizing top-down bu-reaucratic authority, seeking instead to place the maximum possible decision-making authority into the hands of the Elders or into the hands of those closest to them.

9. Creating an Elder-centered community is a never-ending process. Human growth must never be separated from human life.

10.Wise leadership is the lifeblood of any struggle against the three plagues. For it, there can be no substitute.


Events

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Bowling League Dania Manor

I n keeping with our vision of providing outreach op-portunities for our resi-

dents, an idea came about to initiate a Seniors’ Bowling League. Phone calls were made to the local community bowling alleys. The Zone Bowling Alley in Coquitlam responded with overwhelming support and excitement for such a venture. Manager Ryan Bell was extremely ac-commodating, booking lanes, reducing bowling fees to a minimum, and collaborating with the adjoining restaurant to ensure residents re-ceived a discount on their meal following their bowling experience. On Friday January 21st the tenants of Dania Manor boarded the HandyDART and made their way to the Zone Bowling Alley. Residents and tenants from Nor-manna, Swedish Assisted Living Residence and Dania Manor were up for the challenge! Residents’ and tenants’ names were put up in lights, bowling shoes were put on and bowlers took their places. As each bowler went up to take their turn, whether it was a free throw or ramp assisted, the feelings of excitement and anticipation were palpable; the camaraderie and support amongst team members were infectious. The looks on the faces of the tenants knocking down the pins were magical. And the absolute highlight was watching a tenant who had been an avid bowler all of her life get a strike. The first adventure to the Zone Bowling Alley was a smash success! Dania Manor is now an official team in the Seniors’ Bowling League. We will look forward to bringing the trophy home!!!

Dancing is very popu-lar at the Dania Manor. Recreation Staff even incorporate dancing into the daily Osteo-fit Exercise Program. Pic-tured here is our own ―Dancing With the Stars‖ professional Alex and his lovely partner Tatiana. This was a part of our Spe-cial Ukrainian Day celebration. Slava accompanied the dancers with the wonder-ful music of the Ukraine.

Ukraine Day at the Manor

Game Show Week

In keeping with our Theme Weeks initiative, Rec-reation Staff are always looking to plan new and innovative themes. For the month of April, the idea of a Game Show Week was chosen. As many of the residents are familiar with the popular televi-sion game shows, the Recreation Staff thought it would be fun to recreate these game shows Dania style. The week of April 14th to 18th was devoted to recreating television game shows. Residents ac-tively participated in fun-filled, spirited, challenging and competitive game show challenges. Included in these competitions were, "Minute to Win It", "The Price is Right", "Family Feud", "Jeopardy", "Wheel of Fortune" and "Iron Chef Challenge". The Recreation Staff did an outstanding job recreating these iconic game shows. Residents and tenants from the Manor had a great time! Many of the participants asked that these games be added to the monthly Recrea-tion Calendar.

Zone Bowling Alley Team Dania

Spin the Wheel!



Executive Director’s Report

S urveys are not just for measuring public opinion about political leaders. During the fall of 2013, Fraser Health Authority carried out a family satisfaction survey. In January 2014, Dania received the results; whereby, it was evident many families spent a majority of their time writing in com-

ments and have offered their suggestions for improvement. Dania received very good feedback in all Domains, especially Direct Care at 93.2%. The survey also revealed some negative comments which are being used to iden-tify strategies for opportunities for quality improvement. The Activity Domain re-quires immediate remedial attention. We will be conducting another survey with our families to measure our quality improvement initiatives. As always, we encourage families to complete our We Welcome Your Comments Form located at the reception area.

Respectfully, Margaret Douglas-Matthews

Executive Director

Congratulations to the Danes! From The Board of Directors, Management and

Staff of Norwegian Old People’s Home Association (Normanna)


From the Ladies’ Auxiliary

S pring is definitely here! For the Ladies Auxiliary, it means we are busy planning for another sea-son of fundraising. Our first event is the

Country Fair scheduled for Sunday, June 8th. We no longer have to decide if we will have the event outside or inside because of the new Dania Home be-ing built on our property. The Country Fair will be held in the Auditorium of Carl Mortensen Manor starting at 11:30 a.m. Please mark your calendars for June 8th and plan to have your lunch with us. We have hot dogs, aeble-skiver, Danish pastry, ice cream and free coffee. There will also be home baking and plants for sale, raffles and a special treat, the Scandinavian Dancers will perform on the stage. We look forward to seeing our many friends and supporters again. The new Dania Home is progressing very quickly. We will celebrate the roof-raising at the end of April. As you will notice, the new Home is much larger and will house 102 residents as opposed to our present 68. This will mean changes in how we provide entertain-ment, birthday parties and outings. As we get closer to year end and the opening of the new Home, we will be planning for these changes with much excitement. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of a bus some-time this year to be shared by Normanna and Dania Home. The funds required to purchase this bus have almost been raised by our fundraising staff. The bus will be such a help in getting the residents out for a day. Our next fundraising event will be the annual Bazaar on Saturday, September 27th in the Auditorium of Carl Mortensen Manor. We usually have excellent atten-dance at this event, and we do very well. We have open-faced sandwiches for your lunch as well as many desserts. This is when we have our Lottery and we will be send-ing tickets to our members in early September. We hope you will be able to purchase them. We have great prizes donated by our supporters. At the Bazaar, we will have vegetables, plants and flowers for sale, home baking, our table of new items and one of used items.

As I have said before, if you have some time to spare, think about joining the Ladies’ Auxiliary. We have a great time together and enjoy our work with the resi-dents. We have several members who have been with us for 30 or more years. What a wonderful contribu-tion they have made to Dania Home. Thank you so much to all of you. Have a wonderful spring and summer and we will see you at Carl Mortensen Manor on June 8th and again on September 27.

Margaret Chester President

************** Weekly Bus Outings


R esidents of Dania are now participating in weekly bus outings: two scenic drives and two restaurant outings. Residents are abso-lutely enjoying these outings that enable

them to maintain their connection to the community and instill feelings of anticipation and excitement for an upcoming adventure. Residents tour local parks and landmarks on Scenic Drives, and enjoy the cuisine of the many restaurants in Burnaby on Lunch Outings. Residents are involved in the choice of destinations for the lunch outings. So far residents have gone to IHOP, White Spot, Cockney Kings, Swiss Chalet and Boston Pizza. These outings are extremely popular! So excit-ing to know these opportunities will increase substan-tially when we have our own bus!

Happy Hour Cheers!



I am a Registered Nurse who started working at Dania Home in 2004 and have been the Care Coordinator for Healing Hands since 2009. Before working in geriatrics, I worked in the hospital in various units such as medical, maternity and the OR. I

have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of St. La Salle in the Philip-pines. In 2005, I passed the California Board exam; however, I preferred to work in Canada. I also received my Gerontology Certification through the Canadian Nurses’ As-sociation in 2011. I come from a family of nurses, where my aunts and cousins were a great influence on my decision to pursue a career in the health care field. I grew up in the ―city of smiles‖ Bacolod City, Philippines and then immigrated to Vancouver, British Columbia in 2001. I am very close to my family, especially to my two beautiful sisters and brother. They continue to be my inspiration. I married my loving and caring husband, Giovanni, in 2008, and he is my best friend. I enjoy traveling, shopping and watching basketball with my hubby. I love to dine out and am quite adventurous, trying all kinds of foods. I try to be physically active by taking Zumba classes and by participating in the Vancouver Sun Run and the Radiant Run. I am looking forward to starting a family with a new addition in the near future.

Meet the Staff Aimee Manuel

M argaret Douglas-Matthews is pleased to announce that Linda Foster has been retained as Development Officer in the ScandiaCare Development Program. Linda reports to Margaret and is part of our investment in building a long-term, sustainable fundraising program to support major initiatives. She is working out

of the Development Office, 2nd floor of Normanna. Linda started in September, 2013 and already is proactively working with volunteers, staff, and community partners to fundraise for priority projects identified by the three organizations like the seniors’ bus campaign. Linda comes to us with a track record of success in corporate and not-for-profit organiza-tions. She began her career in marketing and sales over twenty years ago and has transi-tioned to fund development in not-for-profit organizations during the last few years.

Most recently she was fundraising for the Canadian Mental Health Association BC Division. In addition, she volunteers as a Board Director for a Burnaby-based non-profit organization, Pacific Post Partum Support Soci-ety, and among other things, created a first-ever community initiative which resulted in new partnerships, heightened awareness and new funds for the organization. Linda is excited to be working with everyone to help seniors have a healthy, vibrant community life-style. Please feel free to contact Linda with any donation inquiries at (604) 515-3332.

Meet the Staff Linda Foster

Meet the Staff Sharlene Lamsen

W e would like to extend a warm welcome to Sharlene Lamsen who has accepted the position of Activity Coordinator. Sharlene brings with her numerous years of experience in the field of Recreation and has expressed desire to introduce new and exciting programs for the Dania Residents.


Coming Events: April—November, 2014 Dania Country Fair Sunday June 08, 2014 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Carl Mortensen Manor, 4035 Norland Ave, BBY (Entrance on Kincaid Street ) Aebleskiver – Hot Dogs Danish Pastry – Ice Cream Home Baking – Free Coffee Raffles – 50/50 Music & Folk Dancing Lots of Plants

Ladies Auxiliary Annual Bazaar Saturday September 27, 2014 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Carl Mortensen Manor, 4035 Norland Avenue Entrance on Kincaid Street Raffles, Door Prizes Trinkets & Treasures Flowers & Vegetables & More Costume Jewelry Danish Open-Faced Sandwiches Layer Cake – Danish Pastry Free Coffee/Tea

Dania’s Annual Chicken & Salmon BBQ Wednesday July 16, 2014 at 12 p.m.-2 p.m. Dania Garden, 4279 Norland Avenue

Remembrance Day 10:45 a.m. Sunday, November 11th, 2014 Dania Home 4279 Norland Avenue, Burnaby Royal Danish Guard Service by Pastor of the Danish Church

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Eire Born Irish Dancers

E very year the Dania residents look forward to

the Eire Born Irish Dancers. As they are so popular, we always have to book one year ahead to ensure we get the girls during the month of March. Un-fortunately this year the girls were booked on a date that fell during the flu season; whereby all entering the build-ing had to either have had a flu shot or wear a mask. As we knew the girls had not had their flu shots and the resi-dents felt very disappointed thinking the performance would be cancelled. The Eire Born Irish Dancers did not want to let the residents down. They came to Dania and volunteered to wear the masks. They continued on with their performance much to the delight of the residents. Tenants from the Manor also came over and enjoyed the performance. We thank the Eire Born Dancers for their dedication, and look forward to seeing them again next year (after the flu season)!

Egyptian Week

Dania strives for excellence in our Recreation Depart-ment. Theme Weeks continue to be a source of pride and inspiration to our residents and staff. We encourage input from staff, family and most importantly our residents in choosing the particular theme. For the month of March, Egypt was chosen as the theme, as per the request of one of the residents who had travelled there. This resi-dent volunteered to spear head the planning and share her travel experience. Staff, residents and students began to work diligently on making decorations to create an Egyptian feeling. Pyramids were constructed from boxes, replicas of Cleopatra and King Tut were painted and col-ored by our residents. Magnificent life-size Egyptian gods and goddesses were drawn and painted by our incredibly talented students. Staff dressed in Egyptian costumes and residents wore gold head pieces they had made them-selves. Entertainment included a gilded harpist and an Egyptian belly dancer. The highlight of the week was the Egyptian themed photo booth. (See Pictures on Page 3)

Documents

25 A , 2014 IN THIS ISSUE - Home - Dania · 2014. 11. 18. · way to a life worth living. 3. Loving companionship is the antidote to loneliness. Elders deserve easy access to human